The Test
by InkDrinker
Summary: Gazzy unexpectedly falls from the sky when a test that the whitecoats had planned for him falls into place. What happens when the whitecoats try to get him back?
1. Chapter 1

It really is a great feeling, flying. I love the way you have the whole sky to yourself. It was just me, my flock, and a few hawks that decided we were interesting enough to tag along.

"Hey," I said, nodding down towards the ground. There sat a tiny cabin, nestled in the mountain range we were flying over. There were no signs of people anywhere near, so we aimed downward at the little cabin. But when I looked back up, the Gasman wasn't following. He hovered above us, looking looking confused.

"Gazzy?" I called up to him. "You coming?"

Fang, catching the look on my face, looked up to see what was going on. Gazzy looked at me with panic in his blue eyes.

That was when he fell.


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry for the short chapter before! I'm new to this so I was still working out how it all works. Hope you like my story and please review!! Please!_

My heart skipped a beat as I watched his small, helpless body plummet to earth. Then Fang dove after him. I raced downward, my stomach feeling as if it had fallen with him. Oh, God, what was going on? Fang got to him first and grabbed him from the air just before he hit the rocky ground, but Gazzy was already unconscious.

I landed carefully among the pine needles and the others followed.

"Is he okay? Is he breathing?" I asked breathlessly. Fang felt his wrist.

"He has a pulse," he said, and I heard slight relief in his usually emotionless voice. I glanced at Angel. It takes a lot to make any of us cry, but Angel's brother had just mysteriously fallen out of the sky and she was only a little kid. Her eyes gleamed with tears and I put my arm around her. She leaned into my side.

"Is he gonna be okay?" she asked, her voice muffled by my jacket.

"I don't know," I answered honestly, and I knew she was counting on me to make him better.

I didn't know when our expiration dates would come along, or if we even had any. For all I knew, Gazzy could have reached his already.

Which meant the rest of ours could come any day now. I remembered Ari, who had met his just after I had found out he was my half-brother. The pain of his death came rushing back to me, and I gulped. No. Gazzy was the problem at hand.

"We should get him inside and check out what's wrong," I said, bravely trying to assume my noble role as leader.

Nudge and Fang helped me carry him inside. We laid him on the dusty sofa. I assigned Iggy to the job of running his hands over the Gasman to check for any wounds. Somehow being blind gave Iggy extra-sensitive fingers.

I decided to look around the cabin. It was small, with only this room and a small kitchen. The kitchen was stocked well with food, and I suddenly realized how hungry I was. It had been a day since we had finished our last granola bar.

"The only thing I can feel is that he has a really high fever. Like, over 100," Iggy announced.

"We could take him to a hospital," Fang said. I laughed bitterly.

"Not a good idea. You know, with the whole wing issue and all?" I said. "I guess we just have to wait until he wakes up." I sighed. " We might as well have something to eat." I led the way to the kitchen, where we inhaled some cold hot dogs and sodas. Angel insisted on leaving some next to Gazzy, in case he woke up.

"Okay guys, time for bed," I said, laying down and closing my eyes.

_If you see any problems with it PLEASE tell me. I'm not really sure if I'm doing this right,since it's my first fanfic. Review please! Thanks! :)_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you so much for the reviews! Even though there's only four, they totally made my day!_

_Oh, by the way I've been forgetting my disclaimer... OK, for those of you who are a little slow, I am most definitely NOT James Patterson... I'm not sure if that's required or not... oops._

I had a hard time falling asleep that night. Finally I sank into restless sleep, dreaming of Gazzy.

I woke up the next morning with the smell of cooking meat filling my nose. I looked over to see Iggy frying bacon on the stove. Yum, protein.

Then I remembered Gazzy. I made my way around a sleeping Fang to the sofa. Nudge had Gazzy's head resting in her lap. She was stroking his hair sadly. Angel was curled up at his feet.

"Has he woken up at all?" I asked. Angel shook her head slowly.

Nudge replied, "He hasn't woken up at all, but he's still breathing. Angel seems really worried too, I mean, so am _I, _but you know, he's her _brother, _and --"

"Nudge," I held up my hand, interrupting what was sure to be a fifteen-minute speech. Nudge could sometimes make bad times even worse. But I wasn't going to tell her that.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. I walked over to Angel and sat next to her.

"You okay, sweetie?" I asked, stroking her curly blonde hair. She looked up at me, and I saw bags under her eyes. I obviously wasn't the only one who had had trouble sleeping. She shook her head.

"I want Gazzy to be okay," she replied quietly. Her voice was cracked with exhaustion.

"We all do, sweetie," I whispered.

"Breakfast is ready," Iggy announced, interrupting our conversation.

Nudge popped up. "Coming!" she called, running to the kitchen.

I got up. "Come on, Angel," I said. "You have to eat breakfast."

"Brehfiss...?" moaned a small voice.

"Gazzy!" Angel cried. She threw her arms around her brother's skinny neck and hugged him tight.

"Ow..." he replied. Angel quickly let go and sat there beaming at him.

"Gazzy! Are you okay? What happened? How do you feel?" I rained questions down on him.

"I'm fine, I don't know what happened, I feel perfectly normal. And I'm not gonna miss out on Iggy's eggs and bacon!" he said.

"Okay, I'll bring you some, but stay here, and after you eat, you're gonna tell me everything that happened yesterday," I said sternly.

Angel insisted on eating next to Gazzy on the sofa, then Nudge, then Iggy. Pretty soon Fang and I were the only ones actually at the table.

"Well, I'm glad he's okay," Fang said. "But I wonder what happened."

"Do you think it has something to do with the School?" I said quietly, so the others couldn't hear me. I didn't want to ruin their good moods and surely temporary feelings of safety. Fang frowned, perplexed.

When everyone was done eating, I sat down next to Gazzy and put my arm around him.

"All right, fill me in," I said.

"Okay, I was flying, but then I felt really cold all over, and then I fell, and everything went black." His voice trailed off.

"Do you feel okay now?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine," he said, sounding confused.

"Well, you should rest. Just tell me if you need anything."

"'Kay," he replied.


	4. Chapter 4

_I'm worried that Jeb's a bit OOC in this chapter. I didn't really like the idea of using the Director as the scientist. Hope you like it anyway!_

_Disclaimer: (Do I have to do this every chapter?) Last time I checked I wasn't James Patterson and I didn't own Maximum Ride... though that would be totally cool. (By the way, my best friend scribefortheflock really helped me out with this story. Thanks so much!) … is she gone yet? Good, she would've whacked me with a stick if I hadn't added that in there.... just kidding._

"Um... Boss?" the scientist said.

"Shut up, Reilly. I'm trying to study Subject 67's eating habits over the past month. Make yourself useful and hand me that clipboard, would you?" Jeb replied distractedly.

"But, Boss, it's October 16th," Relly persisted, handing him the clipboard nevertheless.

"Great, you can read the calendar now. So what, you idiot?" Jeb snapped, thoroughly annoyed.

"Don't you remember? Six years ago? Subject 10? Our test?" Relly asked.

Jeb sat up quickly, hitting his head on his desk lamp and knocking it over in his hastiness.

"Yeah, now I remember," he said.

"What should we do, Boss? We can't let go of this opportunity," Reilly said, relieved Jeb was listening to him. Jeb thought for a moment, then looked at Reilly.

"...Capture him," he said.


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks again for the reviews! Sorry I'm a little late in this chapter. I had a severe case of writer's block the past couple days! But I'm back! Read and enjoy! P.S. The Erasers still exist in this story... I don't really like the fact that all the Erasers were retired. Plus, have you noticed how fun it is to type Erasers? Lol. Erasers, Erasers, Erasers..._

I was awoken the next morning by the slightest crackle of leaves outside the cabin. I looked around to see the rest of the flock waking up, their eyes flicking alertly around the room.

Fang and I met eyes. Erasers!

Angel's gaze fell on the Gasman. The next second, her head snapped around to look at me, her eyes wide. Then I understood what she was thinking. Oh, no.

They were here for Gazzy.

"Ig, can you tell what direction their steps are coming from?" I said, getting quickly to my feet.

"Um... sounds like the cabin is surrounded."

Uh-oh. "I guess we'll have to go out those upper windows out there," I said pointing to a pair of narrow panes of glass that I would have trouble getting through. But just then an Eraser paw crashed through the window right next to us. I would just have to deal. Fang tapped Iggy's hand twice and we flew up towards the windows. As leader, I stayed behind to make sure everyone made it through. Angel went first, then Iggy, who was holding onto Nudge's shoelace, then Fang, then... where was Gazzy?

I looked over my shoulder and saw an Eraser holding tight to Gazzy's shoe. He struggled, but the Eraser managed to pull him down and stuff him in a sack. Oh, God... I couldn't go through this again.

I shot back down, but the Erasers were already out of the cabin and running away towards a Hummer parked a couple hundred meters away.

I raced after them, my heart beating. The Erasers got to the Hummer first and climbed in. The vehicle veered away and drove down the mountain, bouncing on the rocks and roots. I took to the sky, and, looking behind me, I saw the flock flying behind me. We flew over the car and kicked the windows, roof, and windshield of the car over and over again.

Suddenly the windows rolled down and gun barrels poked out. The Erasers began shooting everywhere, not aiming any particular place. They were just trying to scare us, but I knew that if we didn't split, they would aim right at us, and an Eraser never missed a target. Well, almost never. But I didn't want to take a chance.

I peeled away, with Angel and Iggy right behind me, but then I heard a piercing scream.

"Max!" Nudge cried. I glanced back down to see Fang falling heavily to the ground, blood beginning to stain the back of his shirt. No! Not Fang! Not now!


	6. Chapter 6

… _I keep on forgetting the disclaimers..._

_Disclaimer: (x2 lol) I don't own MR, never did, never will. Just my plot._

_Please review!_

My heart was racing as I landed clumsily on the ground next to Fang. His eyes were shut, his face was pale, and the ground around him was stained with sticky red blood.

My head was trying to make a decision. Fang, Gazzy, Fang, Gazzy, Fang, Gazzy...

Although I hated to admit it, Fang seemed more important at the moment. Fang's situation was life-threatening, while Gazzy, well, horrible as it was, the whitecoats wouldn't go so far as to _kill _him. Right?

I _was not, _however, under _any circumstances,_ going to just leave him. I would make sure Fang was okay, get him to safety, then go after Gazzy.

"Iggy, check Fang's pulse." I looked off down the path with tears in my eyes. The Hummer was barely visible. It made my stomach hurt, to the point of nausea, to leave Gazzy behind. But I had to do it.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" came Gazzy's cry as the Hummer carried him off to his worst nightmare, all of our worst nightmare.

Angel looked at me with an awful look in her eyes.

I closed my eyes and turned away, feeling as evil as the whitecoats.

_This chapter was way harder than the others. Tell me what you think! Be brutal!_


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey! What's going on over here?" called a gruff voice. I whirled around to see a man hurrying towards us, his alert eyes taking in my tear-stained face and the blood-soaked dirt around Fang's pale body. His eyes widened considerably and I opened my mouth to speak. He held up his hand.

"Do you need help?" he asked calmly.

"What?" I asked, startled.

"Do you need help?" he repeated, a little slower this time.

"Aren't you going to ask how this happened?" I asked in surprise. He looked at me, examining my face calmly.

"Do you want me to?" he asked, sounding amused. "By the look of things, it would most definitely be an interesting story, but no doubt a long one, and I don't think your friend here can hold out too much longer. It's none of my business how this happened. Do you need help?"

I looked at him in amazement. "Well, um... yeah," I said lamely. He smiled.

"Okay, then," he said, and hoisted Fang up over his shoulder. "Follow me. My house is just around this corner."

We followed the man until we came to a large house. He unlocked the door and walked inside. We followed, bewildered.

"My name is Rick, by the way," he called over his shoulder.

"I'm Max, this is Jeff, Krystal, Ariel, and, um..." I indicated the birdkid draped over Rick's shoulder. "Nick."

"Okay, hello, Max, Jeff, Krystal, Ariel, and Nick," he said, smiling. He opened a door that led into a large dining room. The table had nothing on it, and Rick laid Fang down on it. Rick quickly took off Fang's shirt and turned him over. When he saw the wings, he glanced briefly at me out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing.

"Looks like this is a bullet wound. And I think the bullet is still in there. All right... which of you is quick with his hands?" he said, looking up.

We all looked at Iggy.

"Okay, Jeff, I need your help. We'll have to perform an operation. I'm a doctor, so Nick will be safe with me."

Iggy's eyes were wide. "But -- sir, there's something you should know..."

"I noticed," Rick said, and we all turned to look at him in surprise. "You're blind. I noticed the way you look past stuff. It doesn't matter. Your friends think you'll do fine. They trust you." He looked at us, and we nodded reassuringly.

"We're nodding, Jeff," I said.

Iggy sighed. "Fine. You guys should clear out. This will probably get gruesome."

We didn't need telling twice. I couldn't stand to watch them cut my best friend open. Nudge and Angel left the room, and I followed nervously, my worried eyes glancing over my shoulder one more time before I shut the door.


	8. Chapter 8

Two hours later, Rick and Iggy came out of the dining room, looking exhausted but relieved. I hadn't left this spot since leaving the dining room. Nudge and Angel had gone off to play somewhere because I told them to find something to take their mind off of things.

I looked at Rick questioningly. He smiled and nodded.

"Nick is good to go. But it'll probably take him an hour or two to wake up, so no point in visiting him right now."

Which meant that he was probably going to wake up in about ten minutes. I decided to go find the girls so we could see him together.

I followed the sound of voices upstairs. But then I realized that one of the voices was teary and quiet. I started to go in, but then I heard my name and drew back.

"I can't believe Max just let him go. She chose Fang over my brother! Now who knows what the whitecoats are doing to him?"

My heart dropped into my stomach. Angel... was mad at me? Then I heard Nudge's voice.

"But it's like you said, she's gonna go after him right after Fang's okay."

"Yeah, but who knows how long that's gonna take? A week? Two weeks? By then, he could be dead!"

"But Angel, Max couldn't leave Fang either."

"Then why couldn't she split us up? That's what I would have done."

There was a long silence after that. I couldn't hear any more of this. I raced downstairs and collapsed on the couch.

"Iggy, go get Nudge and Angel and tell them we're gonna go see Fang," I said.

"But didn't you just go –?" Iggy asked, confused.

"No, I went to, um, find a bathroom."

Rick looked at me in confusion. "The bathroom's downstairs," he said.

"Oh, um, yeah, I couldn't find it, but... thanks," I said, hurrying towards the bathroom.

I sat in there for a while, tears running down my face. How could I be expected to deal with all this?

_REVIEW PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I was kinda busy with my other story, and I went on vacation to North Carolina! But I'm back now! So R&R! (I just found out what that meant...)_

When Iggy, Angel, and Nudge came back downstairs, Angel wouldn't meet my eyes. I led the way into the dining room, pretending I didn't notice.

Fang was still lying on the table. When he saw us, he tried to sit up, then groaned and lay back down.

"Don't try to sit up," I warned, and he smiled slightly at my worry.

"I'm fine," he said, managing to reach a sitting position. He was looking at me with a million questions on his face, but I decided to wait until the rest of the flock had gone to explain everything to him.

"Fang!" Nudge raced over to Fang and hugged him hard.

"Ow..." Fang said. I smirked.

"Sorry..." Nudge said, backing up. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

Fang smiled. "I'm fine," he said simply.

Iggy patted his back sympathetically. "You sure you're okay, man?" he said.

"Yeah. Just a little sore," Fang replied.

It was Angel's turn. She trotted up and hugged Fang briefly, then walked back to Nudge. I watched her go. Angel still wouldn't look at me.

The rest of the flock filed out to go play, and I sat next to Fang.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"A guy who lived near where you got shot came and helped us. We're at his house now."

There was a long pause. I knew what he was going to ask next.

"What about Gazzy?"

I explained everything that had happened, including Nudge and Angel's conversation.

"She said that she would have split us up," I finished quietly. "Like, she would have done better than me."

"Don't let it bother you," Fang replied. "I know and you know that what you did was best. Now you can go get Gazzy and everything will be fine."

"But what about you? You still can't fly," I said.

"Maybe..." he said, but didn't finish. I knew what he was going to say, but I asked anyway.

"Maybe what?" I asked warily.

"Maybe you should leave me and the rest of the flock here and go get Gazzy yourself," he said quietly, looking down.

I wanted to shout that it was an awful idea, that I couldn't leave him here, but I knew that it was the only way.

"Okay. I'll leave first thing tomorrow."


	10. Chapter 10

_I'M SORRY I haven't updated in soooooooooo long... I was writing my other story (What Iggy Hears :)) and I kinda wasn't sure if I wanted to keep this going... but I decided to give it another try! I probably won't update this fic too much because WIH is my priority..._

Angel sat on the bed in the upstairs guest room, her chin resting on her hands.

She felt a little bad about treating Max like that. She knew Max had heard her – she had detected her thoughts outside the room. Her thoughts of shame and guilt.

But what was Angel supposed to do? Gazzy was her brother, the one who comforted her when she cried, the one who helped her arrange her stuffed animals. He was the one she confessed her secrets to. And Max had just let him go. Let the Erasers drive away with him. Chosen Fang over Angel's brother.

Nudge was on the bed across the room. She was laying with her back to Angel, her earphones stuck in her ears, attached to her iPod. The iPod had been a gift from Dr. Martinez last Christmas, and Nudge treasured it.

Angel grabbed Celeste from her backpack and trudged down the stairs. Her stomach was growling, and she wondered if Rick knew about their eating habits.

She couldn't detect anything bad from him. He was definitely an odd one. He had found out about the wings when he operated on Fang, Angel knew that from reading his mind, but he hadn't said a word to them about it. Not even Iggy. His thoughts were surprised, yet he didn't show it. Maybe he wasn't so bad.

She turned the corner into the living room.

To see a boy sitting on the couch.

He looked up at her, and she saw that his eyes were a beautiful blue, a shade darker than hers. He looked about her age.

Angel's cheeks flushed. Abruptly, she spun around and walked out without saying a word. The moment she was out of his sight, she broke into a run.

_Okay, I know it's short, but all I wanted to do was introduce my OC. ;) Review please!_


	11. Chapter 11

**I have to apologize again for going such a long time without an update. Things have been a little crazy lately, what with school and band (I play the clarinet 3) and whatnot.**

**But I'm updating now. :)**

**Oh, yeah. If you have the time, check out my FictionPress story that I'm writing. Don't feel like you have to or anything, just thought I'd ask. :) My FictionPress PenName is InkDrinker, same as on here.**

**Review please?**

Max POV

I sat on my bed in the room that I was sharing with Iggy and Fang. I was going to leave the next day.

The guilt was overwhelming me. The guilt of leaving the flock by themselves, of hurting Angel, of letting the Erasers get away with Gazzy. I couldn't deal with it all. I wondered if Angel would forgive me by the time I left. If she didn't, and the School managed to capture me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

I got up and started pacing restlessly. Then I threw the door open, frustrated, and descended the stairs. I needed something to distract me. I reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. With a start, I realized there was a small boy sitting on the sofa.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I live here," he said. "Who are _you? _What are you doing at my house?"

Immediately, I felt bad for talking to him like that in his own home. I supposed this must be Rick's son. Why hadn't he told us he had a son? That would probably have helped.

"Um, your dad didn't tell you? We're gonna be staying here for a little while."

"Oh." He sat back, without asking any more questions. I blinked. His personality sure resembled his father's.

I shrugged and moved on to the kitchen, then saw Angel sitting at the table, with Fang and Iggy standing at the other side of the room, talking quietly. Angel looked terrified.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked.

"Who's that boy?" she asked quietly, trying to sound casual. She seemed to have forgotten her anger for the moment.

"Um, that's Rick's son." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh," she said, looking down, her cheeks pink. I smiled. How cute. "Uh... Max?" she asked, looking back up at me.

"Yeah?" I sat down in the chair next to her. Her eyes shone with tears.

"I'm sorry." I didn't have to ask what she meant. "Fang just told me you're leaving tomorrow to get Gazzy, and I felt really bad, because I was mad at you for leaving him, and now you're gonna go by yourself and risk your life and --"

She sounded panicky. Surprised, I leaned forward and held her. She climbed into my lap and, with no warning, started sobbing into my shirt.

A minute later, once she had calmed down a bit, she looked up at me with her red eyes and said, "Can I come with you?" I grimaced. I should have seen that coming.

Taking a deep breath, I replied, "No. It's too dangerous. It's safer for you here. Besides, I can go faster by myself."

She just nodded, without arguing. She climbed out of my lap, wiping her eyes.

I watched her go, my load lessened, for now.


	12. AN: Goodbye, faithful readers

**After thinking about it for a while, I unfortunately decided to kill this story. As in, not continue it, for anyone who doesn't know what that means. :) Since this was my first fanfic, I was still kinda feeling my way around the site, and now that I've got other stories and know what my strong points are, I figure this isn't really my thing. Sorry to anyone who likes this story a lot. You can ask me to continue it, but I probably won't listen. Just to warn you. Sorry again. :(**

**U&A :)**

**-Inky**


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